Coral Gables Community Foundation’s Tour of the Kitchens was another remarkable event held Feb. 11 at Merrick Park.
Celebrations began with drinks and breakfast at Merrick Park where 500 plus guests picked up programs with addresses of the 10 kitchens to be visited. Co-chaired by Liz Parnes and Xavier Durana, this year’s event was another major success that supports the Coral Gables High School Culinary Arts Program.
Guests enjoyed fabulous assorted breakfast buffets, mimosas, coffees and more. Mid afternoon, as the tour wrapped up, the crowd returned to Merrick Park for more yummy desserts, entertainment, and shopping. Kudos to 2022-24 CGCF Board chair Venny Torre and CGCF CEO Mary Young whom I had the pleasure of interviewing on my show before the big day. To view that show, visit our www.communitynewspapers.com and go to Gloria’s Gab podcasts.
By the way, art lovers and kids will want to visit Merrick Park and play at the new interactive Los Trompos Art Exhibition, created by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. The lively installation features eight larger-than-life, three-dimensional colorful spinning tops in a variety of colors and shapes that invite visitors to play and engage with the art.
In other news, Paws4You honored an incredibly generous woman who seems to be everywhere helping causes dear to her heart, from Paws4You to countless other charities.
On Feb. 11, Norma Jean Abraham was the deservedly honored at the 2023 Annual Paws4You Gala. Norma Jean not only was presented a lovely award but also got to dance with one of the Motown singers who rocked the stage. Kudos to chairs Kathy Cowan and Ann Rubino who always get the best entertainment and you can bet Motown guaranteed a good time for their sellout crowd of supporters for this wonderful pet rescue organization led by its amazing founder, Carol Caridad.
Speaking of great events, the GFWC Coral Gables Woman’s Club’s (CGWC) continued celebrating its 100th anniversary with their Centennial Fashion Show & Brunch on Sunday, Feb. 19, at their historic clubhouse that also houses the club’s free Children’s Dental Clinic.
This free clinic provides more than $250,000 in free dental care annually to children of the working poor. By the way, CGWC Dental Clinic director Dr. Iris Torres Rivera welcomes referrals for those who fall between the cracks in our healthcare system.
We tend to think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as having been a champion of social justice. But he was also a fierce advocate for economic justice, for ending poverty and homelessness.
So on this holiday honoring King’s legacy, the issue of alleviating homelessness was on the front burner in Miami with a visit by the second gentleman. Doug Emhoff, who is Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, paid a visit to the Chapman Partnership homeless facility on Monday.
“One of the reasons I travel so much is to see what’s happening out there and I take it back, you know I live with the Vice President and we talk all the time,” Emhoff said.
Emhoff was escorted by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust.
“Compared to where they are in San Francisco or Los Angeles and Houston and Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, we’re light years ahead of ‘em,” Book said.
ATLANTA, Jan. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Chick-fil-A, Inc. announced the nonprofit grant recipients of the 2023 Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Awards® program with a total of 46 award winners – an increase of 12 from 2022. Collectively, these organizations will receive a total of $5 million in grants to further their community efforts. To be selected for a grant, an organization must work to address key issues that align with Chick-fil-A's corporate social responsibility priorities: Caring for People, Caring for Others through Food, Caring for our Communities and Caring for our Planet.
Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9131351-chick-fil-a-donation-nonprofit-true-inspiration-awards-program/
"Through our True Inspiration Awards grant program, Chick-fil-A helps empower local nonprofits that are leading positive change and creating tangible impact throughout the communities they serve," said Brent Fielder, senior director of corporate social responsibility for Chick-fil-A, Inc. "This year, we added a new grant category – Caring for our Planet – to help support additional nonprofits that act as good stewards of the planet we share. It is our pleasure to invest in the growth and legacy of all our 2023 recipient organizations throughout the U.S."
MIAMI – Armando Gonzalez knows all too well the difference a person’s foot health can make. As a cross country runner, the junior at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School has a deep appreciation for the right shoes and having strong feet.
“When I was four years old my father started taking me every year to be one of his elves on Christmas when he dressed as Santa Claus at the holiday party for the Chapman residents. Then from about age eight, my siblings and I would all go to help prepare and serve food.”
That experience instilled in Gonzalez a desire to further his connection to Chapman and has resulted in two Save Our Soles events at the Miami Chapman location. Along with volunteers including Dr. Frank Olivia, podiatrist, Gonzalez has donated over 200 new shoes and foot checkups to men women and children who have lived unsheltered lives. Gonzalez says their gratitude for the simple experience was incredible, and humbling.
“It felt great to bring such joy to people by just acknowledging that they truly mattered. The residents share with me so many stories of how their trials and tribulations have gotten them here, but that us serving them gives them hope that it will all get better. One of the residents had come for the first event and at the second event I saw him wearing the shoes he had received, and he was ecstatic to get another pair.”
MIAMI – A Miami non-profit that helps run two homeless assistance centers got a big donation Tuesday from a charity founded by one of the world’s richest men.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Day 1 Families Fund donated $5 million to the Chapman Partnership, which works with the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and runs centers in downtown Miami and Homestead.
Executives announced the news at its downtown Miami campus Tuesday morning.
The $5 million grant will be spread out over three years.
Rather than adding more beds, executives said they plan to use the money to offer additional social services, including new, specialized life-skills programs for children and families as well as children’s reading programs.
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chapman Partnership, the private sector partner of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust and the primary provider of emergency shelter in Miami-Dade County, today announced that it has received a $5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund—the largest private gift in the organization’s history. Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to leading organizations on the frontlines that are employing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families move from unsheltered homelessness and shelters to permanent housing with the services they require to achieve stability.
“Providing a pathway to self-sufficiency for families experiencing homelessness is key to building stronger communities,” said Peter T. Pruitt, Jr., president and CEO of Chapman Partnership. “Thanks to the significant generosity of the Day 1 Families Fund and the philanthropic leadership of Jeff Bezos, Chapman Partnership is now positioned to make an even greater impact on family homelessness and achieve our vision of a Miami-Dade County where no one sleeps on the streets."
This one-time grant will help Chapman Partnership in its tireless work to support families as they reel from skyrocketing rent costs, limited services and insufficient incomes. Chapman Partnership plans to use the grant funds to implement a system-wide approach that goes beyond shelter. The organization will reimagine its centers in a trauma-informed way that ensures families experiencing homelessness rebuild their lives in a healing environment.
A Miami organization that helps people experiencing homelessness get back on their feet says it will be able to provide housing and social services for hundreds more families in the coming years after receiving a massive cash gift from one of the world’s richest men.
“We’re here because I got an email at 1 a.m. this morning from Jeff Bezos,” Peter Pruitt, president and CEO of Chapman Partnership, said at a Tuesday morning press conference announcing the $5 million gift.
Miami-Dade's Chapman Partnership has received a $5 million grant to help them fight homelessness from one of Amazon founder Jeff Bozos' charitable organizations.
The Chapman Partnership, a partner of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, on Tuesday announced the grant, the largest in their history, from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund.
The grant will help the Chapman Partnership run its emergency shelters and assist families experiencing homelessness.
"Providing a pathway to self-sufficiency for families experiencing homelessness is key to building stronger communities," Chapman president and CEO Peter T. Pruitt said in a statement. "Thanks to the significant generosity of the Day 1 Families Fund and the philanthropic leadership of Jeff Bezos, Chapman Partnership is now positioned to make an even greater impact on family homelessness and achieve our vision of a Miami-Dade County where no one sleeps on the streets."
*Impact numbers are updated at the beginning of each fiscal year and will be updated annually.
As the private sector partner of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, Chapman Partnership is another step in the continuum of care. Any person or family who is homeless, about to be homeless, or assisting someone facing homelessness, and requiring emergency assistance must first contact the Homeless Helpline administered by the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust. Homeless Helpline Toll Free Number: 1-877-994-HELP (4357).
